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Galanda Named a ‘Difference Maker’ by the ABA

Richard Walker

11/13/12

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda, Round Valley Indian Tribes, received the “Difference Maker Award” from the American Bar Association October 12, at the fall leadership meeting and National Solo & Small Firm Conference in Seattle.

Galanda was honored for his 12 years of bar leadership and pro bono service, primarily in helping recruit more Native American lawyers to the profession in the Pacific Northwest through scholarship fundraising, promoting mainstream legal understanding of Indian legal issues through state bar examination in Washington and elsewhere; and leading the effort to restore the religious freedoms of Native American prisoners in Washington state.

Galanda, a frequent contributor to Indian Country Today Media Network, received his B.A. in English literature from Western Washington University in 1997, and his J.D. from the University of Arizona in 2000. At Arizona, he served as president of the Native American Law Students Association.

He is a member of the National Native American Bar Association Board of Directors, where he chairs initiatives to get Indian Law included in state bar exams and to increase the number of Native Americans in the judiciary.

He is a founder of Galanda Broadman, PLLC, with offices in Seattle and Bend, Oregon. The practice focuses on multi-party litigation and crisis management, and economic diversification and tax strategy, and he represents tribal governments, businesses and citizens. He also serves as a Tribal Appeals Court and administrative law judge, and mediates and arbitrates Indian country-related disputes.

He has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2007, was named as one of the best lawyers in Washington state by Puget Sound Business Journal in 2011, and was named to “40 Under 40” lists by the Puget Sound Business Journal and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. Washington Law & Politics/Super Lawyers magazine named Galanda a “Rising Star” for 10 of the last 12 years.

In July, Galanda was invited by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland to participate in a forum, “Strengthening Partnership Between Indigenous Peoples and States: Treaties, Agreements and Other Constructive Arrangements.” He and indigenous leaders from Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, Mexico, New Caledonia, and South Africa addressed “country-level experiences concerning treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.”

Galanda lives in Seattle, He and his wife, Miranda, have twin daughters, Tenney and Sydney.

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